Drive to freedom
by Solaris
Summary: When a young girl after months of searching car auctions for her vehicle, she finally get her vehicle but when she finds out it is an alien robot forced to remain in vehicle mode, will she help him be free?
1. Chapter 1

**Title: Drive to freedom.**  
**Author: Beth Brownell**  
**Rating: PG13**  
**Summary: When a young girl after months of searching car auctions for her vehicle, she finally get her vehicle but when she finds out it is an alien robot forced to remain in vehicle mode, will she help him be free?**  
**Pairings: none at this moment.**  
**Universe: Set after Dark of The Moon by one year.**  
**Author's Note: This story came about after a dream that I had about what if the government ordered the Autobots to be sold and what would happen and a secret that may condemn them if they return. I own any original characters not seen in the movie.**  
**Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Transformers the movie, just the plotline of this story and the original characters. I do not make any money from the writing of this story, if I did, I would be one of the writers of the movie, which I am not.**

**Drive to freedom.**

Teri looked out the car's window as the trees sped past her in the wee hours of a Saturday morning. They had been on the road since 4am since it took them more than two hours to get to the auction house and knowing how packed they could be may have to walk a good deal to get to it from the parking lot. "Do you think we will find me the right vehicle, dad?"  
"I'm sure we'll find something that will work for you with the short time you have left," her father stated, as he patted her hand.  
Teri just softly smiled as she flipped on the small overhead light that shone on the passenger seat as she looked at the flyer once again, it was a huge car/truck/semi auction as it stated that some of the vehicles were from local dealerships that could never really sell them for the prices that they wanted for brand new vehicles and the companies that built them basically told them sell them at auction and send what they got back to them. She hoped that she would finally find the vehicle for herself. There was not much time left for her.  
Teri watched as they drove closer to Joplin, Missouri as the auction house was there. She hoped that they wouldn't go over their budget as she earned a lot of money to buy her own vehicle as she didn't have much time to deal with searching and searching.  
It took them another thirty minutes to pull into the road that would lead them to High Noon Car and Truck Auction House. As they drove closer, they noticed that large crowd at the auction house. Teri turned to look at her dad with a worried look on her face.  
He smiled softly as he patted her hand. "It will be okay, we'll find something for you."  
"I hope so," Teri stated, as she whispered to herself. 'Not likely.'  
They drove down the parking lot looking for a free spot to park in, which took another ten minutes of driving to find. Teri was anxious to go examine the vehicles to make her decision on which ones she should focus her attention on bidding on. She reached into her backpack and grabbed her notepad and pen. She looked over at her dad as he was making sure that the seats were not going to be too hot for them when they sit down later on when they head home empty handed yet again.  
"Dad, hurry up." Teri replied. She was annoyed by the slowness of her dad.  
He looked up at her and smiled. "Why don't you hurry on and go inspect the vehicles that you want to consider? I'll go get our number." As he closed his door and locked it.  
Teri smiled as she hurried off towards the car lot.  
Her father walked towards the line to get their number for bidding. He knew these types of auctions will be a lot of money for one vehicle and it might go beyond their own small amount of fifteen thousand dollars. He pulled out his checkbook and looked at the check waiting to be signed by him – another fifteen thousand dollars, his little girl's birthday present. He knows he'll get a chewing out by his wife but he didn't care as giving what his little girl wants is now important since their last doctor's visit.  
Teri went to the edge of the rope corral where they kept the vehicles and looked at the hundreds of vehicles of all types as she flipped open her notebook and started to look at the vehicles. She looked at the silver Mercedes Benz but knew that they'll start the bidding at the sticker price or a bit lower to entice the bids to come in on it. But she did check it fully out which included her sitting in the driver's seat and seeing how it would fit her if she won it. She climbed out of the car and marked it down as a possible bid but she knew it would be unlikely as she ventured to the other vehicles.  
It was close to a full hour before she looked at all of the vehicles, which included pickup trucks and Semis. Teri had at least fifty vehicles on her list of wants but she knew that likely chance of her getting one of them was extremely slim. All she could do was hope that she did get one.  
"Teri!" yelled a voice.  
Teri turned to see her father walking towards her. She smiled as she waved him to see the last vehicle on her list – a red and blue flamed Peterbilt.  
"You like this one?"  
"Its one of the last ones on my list and by the number on his window, he might be the last one up for auction, dad." Teri stated as they walked towards the auction house.  
"Well, lets hope for the best," he replied, as they headed towards the stands that overlooked the path that the vehicles were going to drive down as they're auctioned off. They picked the middle of the stands as they scooted past a few people already sitting down. The smell of cigarettes irritated Teri's nose as they walked past couple of cigarette smokers. All Teri could do was making sure that fresh air got to her nose as they moved to the center of the stands. Even with her hand waving, she could smell the cigars and the cigarette smoke from those who were in the auction house already.  
The large sliding doors were finally raised as the wind from outside came rushing in taking with it the smell and smoke from the smokers, much to Teri's relief even though she noticed that the sign on the wall behind them said no smoking as she took hold of their number to notice the number on the paper. "Our favorite number,"  
Her father nodded as he looked at her before focusing his attention on the auctioneer.  
The auctioneer tapped the microphone as it made a noise over the auction house. "Good morning everyone, I advise all you smokers to please put out your cigars and cigarettes for the duration of the auction. Thank you very much."  
The auctioneer watched as the smokers did as they were told before he gave the signal to bring in the first vehicle into the arena. He smiled as his handlebar moustache went up. "Alright, let us start off the day with the cars. This here beauty is a black 2006 Toyota Camry Solara. There is a reserve on this vehicle, so let us hear the first bid of $500."  
It was not too long before the bidding went to twenty thousand before the gavel came down signaling the close of the bidding on the vehicle.  
Teri looked at her father. "You could have gotten it new from a dealership for that amount."  
Her dad only nodded as the next car came out. "So when is your first vehicle coming up for bidding?"  
"It should be up next as it is number 002." Teri replied, as she looked at the open arena door.  
He turned to look and then back at her in shock. "You are going to try to get a Porsche, Teri?"  
"Why not give it a try, dad?" Teri smiled back, as she grabbed the bid sign from him.  
"But what about your budget, they are very expensive,"  
"I know, I can hope, can't I?" Teri replied, as she took the first bid of $500.  
It was not long before it was beyond Teri's budget as she dropped her head as she marked the Porsche off her list of vehicles, now only forty-nine more vehicles to contend with and hopefully, she'll get one of them if not, there will always be next week's auction.  
"You gave it a valiant try, honey, you cannot give up as your next pick might be the one, you will win?" her father told her as he rubbed her back as she popped her back before leaning forth allowing her father to run his hand over her back easing some of the muscles.  
The Porsche was rolled out as the vehicle's new owner went rushing out of the house to finalize their new vehicle. Teri could only sigh with relief knowing that meant one less bidder for the other vehicles that they would bring out.. The next three hours went past fast as finally she heard the number that she was waiting for.  
"Hopefully, this next one will be the one I get, dad." Teri said, as she watched as the black with white top Toyota Rav4 drove into the arena and parked.  
"What's the lot number?" he asked.  
"Lot number 1216," Teri informed him as he looked at the coloring of the vehicle. "Are you going to get a bit hot in the summer with the white top, Teri?"  
"Maybe but you can never tell with the summers here, dad." As she looked around hoping that the bidders would not bid on this one.  
The auctioneer went on about what the vehicle contained and what could be added by the dealership it came from and he started off the bidding on a very low price. Teri got her hopes up that she could get this one. But then, someone yelled out a higher number and Teri shook her head as she picked up her pen and crossed out the Rav4 on her list. She sighed as it looked like she was going to be getting a pickup truck or perhaps a Semi if she didn't get a car soon.  
"How many are there left on your wanted list, Teri?"  
"Only about ten more and then we move to the pickups and then to the semis," Teri lowered her head knowing that even though she got both her normal driver's license, she had also got her commercial license as well, since semis were considered commercial vehicles, regardless what they were used for. "I have about ten pickups that I'm interested in."  
The ten cars that she wanted from her list went off above her price and she was getting frustrated with the auction, she almost decided to go to the owner and tell him she'll buy the car she was after outright. Her dad reassured her that it will be okay, even if she got herself a semi. She looked at him. "Are you sure? You know that mom will basically flip a lid when she sees me coming home in a Semi, when she expects me to come home with a nice safe car?"  
"I know, just leave her to me," Her dad replied, as he smiled at her as they focused their attention on the cars.  
The last car on Teri's list went off beyond her price range and that closed the auction for the cars, now was the pickup trucks and then the semis. Teri noticed that all the car buyers left the house, leaving those who were looking for a pickup or a semi to buy. All she could hope for was that they wouldn't go beyond her budget and let her get either a pickup or a semi.  
The pickup trucks went off right at ten thousand, Teri was shaking her head as the calls of upping the bids were heard as her offer of fifteen thousand was outbid by five thousand dollars and more before the gavel rang out and the truck was sold.  
It was like that for the rest of the pickup trucks. Teri just sighed as the pickup trucks were bid out of her price range within a moment after she gave her bid. She started to really lose hope that she would ever get a vehicle or even a semi.  
The Freightliner and the other Peterbilt went beyond her budget within one bid. She just shook her head hoping that she would get the last one she picked. She glanced over to the door as the roar of the diesel truck came echoing through out the house as the blue and red Peterbilt was driven into the arena. She knew it was going to be a very long shot but she hoped that the bidders were not interested in this vehicle at all as everyone listened to the description of it.  
Teri's dad smiled as he placed his checkbook on her pad. She glanced down to see the check and then she gasped in shock. "Dad?"  
Her dad smiled as he took his checkbook back. "I was meaning to give this to you for your wedding but this is more important to you, since you know. I will help you buy the Semi if you go over your budget."  
"Oh daddy! Thank you I now got hope again," Teri hugged her father as she glanced at the auctioneer as he finished off the description of the truck that was idling before them.  
He started it right off at ten thousand dollars. Teri immediately placed her bid on it. Soon, another bid on it. Soon, the price was a firm forty grand, five thousand more than what her father had. The auctioneer looked over at her. "Ma'am, anymore bids from you, on this here lovely Peterbilt?"  
Teri shook her head as the gavel landed hard on the block and the cry of sold was heard. Teri didn't want to glance up as the Peterbilt was driven out of the arena. She scooted out of the stands and down the stairs headed for the exit knowing that this weekend's visit to the auction house was for naught as all of the vehicles that she wanted to buy was sold right from underneath her.  
Her father looked at her. "Why don't we look at the cars that didn't get sold and see if the seller will sell them to you for a cheap price?"  
Teri looked at the other cars that didn't get sold. "Well, okay."  
They went to the cars and started to look at them again, each one she didn't really favor but for the red and gold Rav4 and she eyed the red and blue Peterbilt that was sitting there waiting for his new owner to come and claim him. "I really wanted that truck, dad, since it was the last one on my last and by the report of how it was used before being here - it is a very young truck."  
"I know you did, but he got out of our price range way too fast," He replied, as they started to look at the other vehicles, they never noticed someone approaching them.  
"Excuse me? I'm Bruce Koon, the owner of High Noon auction house. I heard you were interested in owning that Semi, as you were bidding quite a lot on him," a tall man with dark brown hair said, walking up to them pointing towards the red and blue semi.  
"Yes, but the bidding went beyond our last bid of forty grand," Teri stated.  
"Well, just to let you know, the high bidder had forfeited his bid,"  
"What do you mean, he forfeited his bid?" asked Teri shocked.  
"Well, when he got to the window to pay for it. He thought it was 38 grand, not forty grand. He withdrew his winning bid on the semi, which means I have to auction him over again." Bruce stated. He looked at them. "I really do not do this, but heck, I do not want to put him back on the auction block again. So since you are the second highest bidder, would you like to buy him for 35 grand?"  
Teri looked at him in shock for several moments as she looked at her father. She knew she had to say something fast. "Would we? Yes, we would," This day was now going better than she had ever dreamed of.  
Bruce Koon smiled as he wrote up the sale bill and handed it to her. "Now, all you need to do is go to the buy window and give them that bill and the check for 25 grand and he'll be all yours,"  
"Uh, Mr. Koon, you said 25 grand, not 35 grand," Teri said, looking at him as she held the bill out to him.  
"Well, if the guy didn't bid like he did, you would have gotten him for 25 grand, so I'm selling him to you for that price. Don't make me retract the offer," He stated, with a wink before he headed off to another possible buyer of one of the unsold vehicles.  
Teri hurried towards the buy window and got in line as she waited for her turn to pay for the semi, as the lady pushed the brown envelope which held the title and the keys and left the window to go get her semi.  
Bruce Koon watched as the girl climbed into the Semi and drove off the lot with her father following behind her in the vehicle they drove in with. He headed for his office knowing that he needed to call a friend up and speak with him. He dialed the number and waited for an answer. "May I speak with Lennox please? Yes, I'll hold. Hi Lennox, it's Bruce. The Big Man has been sold. No, I didn't tell her anything about Big Man. Should I? Okay, she'll figure it out when he transforms to protect her. If Big Man does that, that is, he may stay in vehicle mode." He hung up the phone with a smile on his face as he gazed out towards the sun as it went past the auction arena.

_Stay tuned, the next one is coming._


	2. Chapter 2

**The pairing is now starting to show itself here.  
The next chapter will tell more about what happened at dinner between Teri and Lennox.  
The rating is still currently PG13.**

Chapter Two.

Lennox hung the phone up and turned to the soldier who stood by. "That was an important call." He turned to look at the window before glancing down at the note he wrote. "I will need to the new owner of Big Man,"

The soldier nodded and walked away as Lennox went to his computer and started to type on it. He sat there thinking about what he did for the Big Man. It was either keep him here at the base or send him off to auction and let the Big Man cope with being a regular truck from now on. He knew Big Man could handle with what was decided for him, even though it hurt him to see his face looking at them before he transformed into his truck mode knowing it would be the last time he would walk as a bipedal robot.

* * *

Teri couldn't believe how smooth the semi was even on a rocky road, he was smooth. As they pulled into their drive, her neighbor waved at her as he stood by his own Peterbilt. She stopped and rolled the window down.

"Hey, I wasn't expecting this to come down our road, Teri," He exclaimed as he looked at the semi. "How much did he cost you?"

"Twenty-five, Fred, I wasn't really the high bidder on him," Teri replied, as she placed the semi in park and climbed out of the cab to the ground. "but isn't he a beauty?"

Fred ran his hand over the hood as he looked puzzled by something. "Could you pop the hood, Teri, your hood should be hot but its not, something might be wrong with your engine."

Teri reached in and popped the hood as she went to where Fred was as he leaned in the engine compartment to have a look at the engine. "Is anything wrong?"

Fred glanced over at her. "This is a very strange engine. I have never seen one like it. But the thing is, it is absolutely cold to the touch, not even hot. Where did you drive it from?"

"Joplin. Why?" Teri asked, as she looked at her neighbor.

"Well, feel the engine block, it should be hot but its relatively cool like you had just started him up a moment ago." Fred replied, as he felt the engine again. "You might want to check the record for repairs on him and figure out when his last check was."

"And get him rechecked if it was not done in a while," Teri replied.

"Yup," Fred looked at him. "Well, I better let you go off home as your mom will be wondering where you are with your new vehicle."

"Yeah, she's going to blow a gasket when she sees this beauty coming down our road," Teri smiled as she closed the hood and climbed back in and drove down the road towards home.

Teri watched as her mom stood on the deck in her all white clothes and an angry look on her face. "Great, she's going to give it to me about why get a semi when a car was easy able to get . . . as if!"

Teri pulled up and turned off her vehicle and climbed out. "Mom, don't even start with me!"

"But Teri, a semi?" Her mother complained. "I thought you would have gotten a car or at least a truck,"

"I tried but I was outbid on them all, including this big guy," Teri replied, as she stepped onto the deck and walked towards her mother.

She crossed her arms in front of her. "Really? Then, tell me why do you have him instead of the high bidder?"

"Because, mother, he didn't hear the final bid till he was at the pay window to buy him and he retracted his bid. I did get him cheap," Teri stated, hoping that her mom would like how cheap she got him for.

"How cheap?" she stepped in front of her blocking her entry to the house.

"25 grand," Teri turned away from her mother and started to open the garage door to go inside to find a hand on her wrist. She turned to look at who stopped her to see her mother's hand on her. "Let go of my wrist, mother." Teri growled the last part out.

"Your budget was only 15 grand, not 25 grand. You went over your budget," she snapped off. "And do not expect us to assist you in giving you money to fix that thing when it breaks down in another month,"

"CJ, stop it!" spoke a male voice. She looked up to see Charles standing there.

"And why should I? You allowed her to go over her budget for a semi that will cost her thousands of dollars to keep maintained," CJ stated.

"I gave her her birthday money early and the part of it was also to help her buy the car or semi she wanted and this was the vehicle she got." Charles replied. "And if you do not drop your hand on her wrist, we may not find ourselves being in the presence of our daughter for months."

CJ dropped her hand and glared at him. "If that thing breaks on you, I will not be loaning you the money to repair him, you will have to get a job now!"

"That was the intention, mother!" Teri snapped off. "I intend on getting a job. Now if you excuse me, I have a truck to tend to!" She turned away from the garage door and headed for the semi, climbed within and drove towards the pasture.

"You know you could have just made us lose our daughter over this?" With that said, Charles walked back into the house leaving CJ standing there.

* * *

Teri looked back at the two story house, not moving from the driver's seat. She shook her head. _'Mother, why must you gripe at me so about my decisions? Why can you not see that I'm ready to make my move into the real world instead of being smothered by you, besides you knew when I get a vehicle I wouldn't be staying at home for very long._'

She climbed out of the car and started to get a bucket and some soap in it before she started to hose the semi down. She normally would have waited till morning to wash him down but he was very cold to the touch like she barely drove him. She started to hum as she washed the semi down. She dried her hands before entering the truck again and turning him to neutral and turning on the radio to a music channel that she liked. She smiled as she heard the sounds of Elton John being played through the sound speakers. "Yup, good song to wash a vehicle down with,"

It was another full hour before she was done washing him down and then drying him off. She dried her arms and legs with the spare towel she had with her, before she climbed back into the cab and lowered the driver's side window, leaned back in the seat and closed her eyes knowing that they wouldn't come out and bug her, even though she did see her mom come onto the deck to watch her wash her new vehicle down.

* * *

Teri didn't notice the hologram of a young man with black hair with blue highlights in the short hair appearing in the passenger seat looking at her. Optimus wondered why she was sleeping within his cab, but he did take notice that he was clean and that she did it all by herself, unlike back at the base where there was about five men washing him down in both forms vehicle and his bipedal self. They all loved being with the leader of the Autobots but the last day he was there before the orders came from the high ranking officer of the government telling them that they now have a choice stay on the base forevermore which means no hunting down Decepticons or anything else for that or remain in vehicle form for the rest of their lives and what happens after that will be up to the base's General - General Lennox.

He knew Lennox wouldn't send him off without a good reason and he knew the others were sold and shipped out wherever. He was not even able to contact them, asLennoxtold him that they'll be okay where they will be sent off to.

He looked at his new '_owner_' and wanted to reach out to her and explain who he was but the warning he got from Lennox about any revealing of who and what he was would result in him being returned to the military base and never leaving the base ever again, forced his hand to remain silent about who he was.

He made his hologram vanish from view before anyone saw him and took up watching the area and trying to remain silent. But he had toldLennoxthat if anything threatened the life of his new owner, he will revert back to his true form to protect me that if that happened it better be a case of life or death to cause that to happen. I knew that one day the Decepticons will find where he was and then no one will have a problem with it as he had to do it to protect someone's life.

* * *

It was after the sun had set, when Teri stirred from her nap. She stretched and climbed out of the cab before turning the semi off and jumping from the cab, closing the door and locked it. "Good-night, tomorrow, we go to work,"

Optimus watched as she headed towards the house and disappeared within it. He wondered why kind of work he was about to start doing now. He sort of wished that he had rejected the offer to remain in vehicle mode as there were still Decepticons out there. He sighed as he went to listening to the radio as he always did at night since there was no other Autobots living close to him to talk to.

* * *

It was the next morning, Teri came out yelling at her mother as she followed her from the house. Teri turned and made some motion with her right hand which had the middle finger up and everything else down. Optimus nearly chuckled as he watched her run towards him as human hand symbols were so strange and funny. But he knew there were worse hand symbols that the humans used as she got near to him.

She quickly unlocked him and climbed within. She started to reach for the keys when she started to cuss heavily as she started to hit her head on the wheel. "Damn, I have to go back inside the house to get the keys."

Optimus was about to turn himself on when the cab door opened and she jumped from the seat. He turned his sensors to the house to find that her father was heading towards the door with the keys that would start him up. He nearly chuckled out loud knowing it wasn't really needed.

Teri ran back to her truck and started her day off as she drove off to her work as a dirt hauler for a local company.

* * *

It was like this for the next two weeks, Teri and Big Man as she called her new truck went about their daily work at the local quarry. Teri would spend an hour washing him down before tending to refill his oil even though he didn't need any, but she did it anyways. She was finishing up drying off his grill when she glanced towards the driveway to see a military jeep coming down the road. She stood up and watched as it drove up to the house. "I wonder why we're getting visited by a military jeep,"

Teri just shook her head and returned to drying the grill off when she heard her father's voice yell out to her. She glanced over to see her dad standing there with a military man, who started to approach the pasture fence. She placed the towel on the bucket and headed towards the fence to greet the soldier.

"Hello soldier, what can I do for you?" Teri asked, once she got close to the fence.

"I'm General Lennox and I might as well come out and say it," He stated.

"Say what?" Teri asked, looking at him hard in the face.

"I used to own Optimus over there,"Lennoxstated, as he pointed towards Optimus.

"Optimus?" Teri asked.

"Yeah, we gave our vehicles nicknames, and his was Optimus." Lennox replied. "I came by to see how he was doing here with his new owner."

"Well as you can see he's doing really well. He's getting a bath or more like the last part of it when you arrived here and I need to go finish it up before the spots start to show on his paint job," Teri said, as she started to back away from Lennox.

"Mind if I help you? I would like to know what he's hauling since being sold," Lennox asked.

Teri looked at him and knew that another pair of hands would be helpful since the truck was much larger than she was and it took a lot of time to dry him down after washing him. "Sure, I could use the help. I'm done on the right side but the left side I haven't gotten to as of yet."

Lennox climbed over the fence and walked with her back to Optimus where they started to dry his right side off. He noticed that she was putting stuff onto Optimus's grill before rubbing the stuff off and polishing it with another rag. "What did you put on it?"

"Polishing wax, specially made for his grill," Teri replied as she finished polishing the grill and picking up another rag and headed over to whereLennoxwas and helped him. "So he probably hasn't gotten this treatment a lot at the base?"

Lennox smiled. "Actually, he would get it every day in the evening. I would have some of my men help me wash and dry him down. It was to let the stress of the day go before heading off to bed."

Teri smiled as they continued to talk and dry him down. It was later, that they were leaning against the grill just chattering about his traits. That's when Teri stated something about how the oil and fuel never really needed to be dealt with but for every other month. "Is that strange for him to go that long between oil and fuel?"

Lennox shook his head as he placed his hand on Optimus' hood. "Optimus has a very unique way of contending with the oil and fuel. Unlike his counterparts, we upgraded his engines to where it doesn't take much for his engines to burn fuel."

"More like very easy on the pocketbook I say. I was expecting to fuel him up every other day but his fuel gauge is still at full." Teri replied.

Lennox looked over at her with a mild look of shock on his face. "Really?"

"Yeah, go check it, it reads full and I haven't put in any diesel in him," Teri watched as Lennox climbed into the cab and started Optimus up to see his fuel gauge.

Lennox looked at the fuel gauge and tapped it twice. "Optimus, you need to show less fuel."

Optimus's voice came through the radio. "If I did, she would need to fuel me up and her paycheck didn't bring her much in the way of your currency. She needs to keep her money."

Lennox looked at him. "Find out her bank information, Optimus and e-mail it to me at the base, you know my e-mail account. I'll see if I can funnel some cash to her account."

"I'll try my best. Ratchet or Bumblebee would be better at hacking into her bank to get her information," Optimus replied.

"But they're out of your reach, Optimus," Lennox whispered.

"For the time being that is," Optimus stated. "You better head out, she's about to come over here,"

Lennox turned him off and hopped out as she looked at him. "So did you see it reads full even after two weeks on the road?"

Lennox nodded. "Strange but then again, he's special,"

"I dare say he is, my neighbor owns a Peterbilt similar to him and we popped the hood on him so he could take a look at the engine block and my friend was actually able to put his hand fully on the engine block without getting burned." Teri stated.

Lennox nodded as he reached for the bucket to go dump it. "Is he finished being washed and dried?"

"Nope, now his left side needs to be done," Teri replied, as she climbed up into the cab and drove Optimus away from his spot and parked him there again but this time his left side was visible. As she climbed from the cab, she smiled. "Now, we can work on his left side."

Lennox smiled as he started to hose Optimus's left side down and started to wash him down, he could tell that Teri liked hand washing Optimus. "So do you do this every day?"

"No, just on the weekends or if the road was muddy," Teri replied, as she dunked her hand into the soapy water and got more suds on the sponge.

It took them another four hours before they were done washing his left side down, as it was they spent most of the time fighting with the water hose. Teri leaned against Optimus laughing as she watched Lennox try to squeeze some of the water from his shirt without success. He pulled his shirt off and hung it on a nearby tree branch to dry. She had to turn away as her face went red as she never seen someone look so hot and handsome from the ranks of the military before. She knew they worked out heavily but Lennox had an eight pack and well, she knew he wouldn't go for someone like her as she's like maybe five or seven years younger than he was.

They continued with waxing Optimus down before finishing buffing his coat.

"Teri! Dinner! Bring your guest with you!" her mother yelled from the deck.

Teri just growled as she turned away from the house and continued with what she was doing.

"You don't like her very much?" Lennox asked.

Teri glanced over and nodded. "She will totally forget that you are at the table and start berating me for buying a Semi when a car would have been better off for me." Teri started to get onto the ladder. "And the thing is, this Semi will keep me protected a lot better than some car,"

_'You have no idea how right you are with that, Teri_.' Lennox thought to himself. "Why don't we go out to eat somewhere? I'm sure your dad won't mind us heading off."

Teri glanced over at him in shock. "Are you sure? We're like about ten years apart in ages,"

"Well, I'm only thirty years old," Lennox replied.

"I'm ten years younger than you are, I'm twenty." Teri stated, as she turned back to wiping down the hood.

"I don't see a problem with that, do you?" He asked.

Teri shook her head. "I guess not." She looked at the truck he called Optimus. "I don't really want to take him out when he's all clean, but what the heck, I can always redo him. Climb in." As she went to open the driver's door and got into the driver's seat. "We will have to stop at the house so I can grab my purse, I don't carry my IDs with me when I'm out here."

"Sure, not a problem," Lennox replied, knowing it would give him some time to talk to Optimus about his living arrangements.

* * *

Teri rushed into the house and told her dad that she and Lennox were going out to eat, they'll be back soon as she dashed up the stairs to grab her purse and headed back down the stairs again.

Her mother stopped her. "Is he taking his vehicle?"

"No, we're taking mine," Teri replied. "And we will not be back for a while."

And with that said, she dashed out of the house towards Optimus and Lennox.

_Stay tuned, the next chapter is coming._


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** _Movie Three spoilers are within this chapter_.

**Chapter Three.**

They walked into the local restaurant and got a booth for two in the corner. After they ordered their drinks, they started to mention of his truck that was lost to him to a traitor.

"A traitor?" asked Teri.

"Yes, we thought he was one of us, but he killed many of my men before defecting to the other side and it took a combined effort to defeat him."Lennoxreplied. "Ironhide was by far the toughest of the vehicles we had and he blew him up, hoping to kill me at the same time. My best friend was that truck, he and I went everywhere together. He was like family to me."

"I know how it feels to be betrayed by someone you thought was your friend and ally and they turn around and backstab you in the back without letting you defend yourself from them. I lost a friend to someone like that," Teri replied.

They stopped when the waiter came with their meal. They talked while they ate. The topic of family came up andLennox's right hand went to the bare spot on his left hand.

"Was she one of the soldiers who died in the battle with the traitor?" Teri asked.

"No, you remember that terrorist bomb attack at Mission City Mall several years back?" Lennox asked, as he took a bite of the taco.

"Yeah, I had left the mall about an hour before," Teri stated, as she picked up her taco and was about to take a bite out of it.

"My wife and two year old daughter were in that mall when it blew up. They were killed instantly," Lennox said, as he bit into his taco.

Teri dropped her taco to her plate. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

Lennoxwaved his free hand as he finished off the food in his mouth. "Not many people knew she was there, not even me till it was too late."

"I'm sorry for your loss, it is hard to lose someone you love so much," Teri whispered.

Lennoxglanced up just as she lowered her head to take a bite of food. Did he see a tear come from her? He reached over and raised her head to see the streak of tears running down her cheeks. "What happened?"

"My younger brother had a one car accident trying to swerve away from hitting a kid in the middle of the street, he was not wearing his seat beat and he broke his neck when he hit the steering column and then the headrest. It was instant death, no last words, no chance to say farewell, one minute he was alive, the next dead," Teri stated, as she wiped her tears from her face with the napkin. "Sadly, that was not the last death in our family. My older brother in agony over losing his younger brother took a handgun to the temple, he said that he couldn't handle being without him as they always did things together and he went to join his younger brother."

"I'm so sorry for your loss, it might be why your mother is so possessive of you,"

"That she doesn't want to lose me like she did her two boys, she lavished attention on them both more than she did me. I would have to do 200 times more to even get a thank you from her or even recognition about what I did. Dad knows how much I try to get her approval but now, I do not care if I do or not. All she does is bitch and complain why I cannot be like my brothers,"

"She wants you to be dead like they are?" Lennox asked shocked.

Teri shrugged. "Don't know, neither of them held a steady job and now that I have a vehicle and a job, she thinks I'll be jumping from that job to another one in another month but I have no intentions on copying what my brothers did in life,"

"Good for you," Lennox replied, as they both finished off their tacos and ordered another round of tacos.

They spent the rest of the evening chatting and eating tacos till closing time. They both were chuckling as they walked out of the restaurant and towards the semi that waited for them. Lennox watched the road as two strange black vehicles drove past them. He almost broke his own promise and asks Optimus if he saw the two vehicles but he bit his tongue and hoped that they were not Dreadknots.

Teri drove back home and pulled Optimus to the third garage whereLennox's jeep was at. "So will I be seeing you again?"

"Maybe next week, Teri,"Lennoxreplied, as he shook her hand and headed for his jeep.

Teri watched as he drove away before she drove Optimus back to his parking spot by the barn and retired for the night.

* * *

Lennoxsneaked back onto the property by the woods and looked at Optimus. "Optimus, open up. I'm coming in."

Optimus opened his driver's door and allowed Lennoxto climb within. What they spoke about was unknown but it had made Optimus move a bit out of place.

_Stay tuned, the next chapter is coming._


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note:**_ Here is where you will see Teri and Optimus going about their work week. There might be sightings of them as well as possible other sightings._

_As always, I love reviews._

**Chapter Four.**

It was the next morning, Teri came out of the house to check on Optimus to find him parked a bit odd that morning. She shrugged it off and went to check his tires. After finding them in great shape, she leaned against his grill and thought back about the dinner she had with General Lennox. Even though he was one of the youngest Generals, he talked about his time with Optimus and how he was usually driving him around if he was not using Ironhide, which was his truck but when their base got attacked and the truck was killed by what they thought was their ally, turned out to be a traitor.

Teri ran her hand over the grill. "I could feel him sadness for the loss of his other truck . . . the one he called Ironhide. He must have really loved that truck,"

Optimus heard her talking and then her voice mentioning Ironhide. He nearly spoke but gave a shudder instead. Teri felt the shudder and grabbed hold of Optimus even tighter as she cried out in shock.

She noticed that none of the trees were shaking with the earthquake she felt. Teri wondered if her balance was off. "That's weird," she spoke out loud. She checked her watch and started to head for the driver's side door to get on with her day as a rock hauler for a local quarry.

She got to the quarry and attached her trailer to Optimus before going into the quarry to get loaded down with rock to go dump it off at a job site. The guy who had loaded her trailer up with rock, asked as he looked at Teri after turning his tractor off. "So how much was he? I didn't hear the price the last time I saw ya,"

"Surprisingly enough, he was cheap, Red, only twenty-five grand," Teri replied, glancing over at him.

"Wow, not many Peterbilts go for that low used. They hold their value pretty good," The guy named Red stated.

"I know, but he was used at a military base so maybe they wanted him to go cheap," Teri replied, as she double checked the scale and the work sheet for how much rock she was to take to some property in Eldon. She handed him the sheet to sign off on. "It's good, Red. Need you to sign it so I can head out,"

Red smiled as he signed his name to the work sheet and started his tractor up and drove away to the next driver.

Teri smiled as she climbed into the cab. "Okay, Optimus, one more stop till we get moving to the drop off point." She headed for the check-out window and waited her turn before getting up to the window and handing the work sheet to the girl who was tending to them. "Hi Maria, here's the work sheet for this load."

Maria was an older woman with salt and pepper hair. "Good, the last three guys forgot to get the work sheet signed by tractor operator. Had to send them back to get it signed before they leave the lot."

"I noticed that they had to go up to the old quarry road to turn around and come back." Teri stated, as she took hold of the on the run work sheet and placed her name and where she was heading off to, before handing it back to her. "If I'm all clear to go, I better move out?"

"You are clear to run. Be careful on the roads," Maria stated, as she waved her on.

* * *

Teri drove Optimus to the edge of the quarry's drive checked the mirror that they had up to show who was coming from the other side before pulling out and speeding down the road towards the highway. She glanced at the road with its light amount of morning traffic as she sped down the highway towards Osage Beachand then going towards Eldon to get to the property the rocks were to be on.

As they drove down the road, Teri noticed couple new style Chevy Camero's driving past them, one of them was a sharp yellow with racing stripes on the hood and roof, the other one was a nice deep shade of red, with yellow stripes on it. "Cute cars, but not as sexy as this semi," She had felt the jerk in the wheel as if she had blown couple tires. "Shit! Not what I need to contend with right now, Optimus! Tire blow outs!"

She found a parking lot that could handle his trailer before putting him in park and jumping out to check the tires to find them all still full and no blown ones. She stood there scratching her head before she dashed back into the cab and turned him around to where she could get back on the road again without anymore problems.

It was another 30 miles of driving till she got to the property and got word from the foreman where to place the rocks at as she slowly drove with the foreman walking ahead of her and motioning her to keep moving forth till the rocks were all out of the trailer and none were showing.

The foreman went up to Teri as she made sure that every rock was out of the trailer. "We need another trailer full of rocks like this, Teri. The boss told me this load won't cut it, not for the length of the road."

Teri smiled as she looked at him. "Same amount of rocks as this load?"

"Yup," He turned to look at his cell phone. "Hello? We need at least nine more loads of two inch rocks, sir. Yes, I'll order it done right now" He closed his cell phone. "The boss wants at least nine more loads of the same type of rock. Can you handle doing that?"

"Sure, my truck is itching to pull more," Teri replied, with a grin. She knew what it meant more money in her pocket when payday comes. She pulled out the sheet that she had the order on and spoke, "I will need, of course, your authorizations for more rocks of the two inch kind?"

The foreman signed the paperwork ordering nine more loads of rock and handed it back to Teri. She quickly got the trailer leveled, climbed in and drove back to the quarry to get another load for the project.

_Stay tuned, the next chapter is coming._


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's note:** _This chapter was the one that got ate by my computer, so it had to be rewritten totally. I had in mind to show the Dreads or a possible hint of them but the chapter is going longer than I had expected so it will be in the next chapter, but we will see the start of a budding romance betweenLennoxand Teri. You will have to see about that._

_As always, I love reviews._

**Author's Note P2:** _To all my reviewers thank you for the reviews on this story.  
To Darth Krande: This story was set a year after DOTM was done and it is an AU. Yes, we seen his wife and daughter at the end of the first movie, so they are living then. In ROTF, there was no scenes with Lennox and his family, considering that there is about a span of four years from that movie to the third movie, there is a strong chance that the Decepticons could have attacked a random location, which could have been a mall where Lennox's wife and daughter could have been shopping at and they were killed there. How long they were dead for will be mentioned in later chapters.  
To Autobotally45: Thank you for your review. It is unfair to them but you will see what happens in later chapters._

**Chapter Five.**

Morning came all too early for Optimus, he knew it was a Saturday and it would mean a nice day to relax his sensors and get a bath from Teri. He loved listening to her talk and for the most part it would be ranting about her mother who doesn't seem to want to let her grow up and be the woman she is to ranting about the political status of the country to the radio programs that she would listen to on the radio or on the ham radio with some ham radio operator somewhere in the states or even another trucker.

As the sun rose, his audio sensors could hear noises – yelling more like it coming from the house itself. He watched with his sensors as Teri came storming from the house in her t-shirt and pants as she flipped her mother off as she screamed at her, her mother followed her out as far as she could before she stopped and continued on yelling at Teri, to which she flipped her mother off and used some swear words as well.  
Optimus knew Teri was not going to be in a good mood this morning as he watched as she pulled out of her purse her cell phone and dialed a number listening to something on the other end before hanging up. She looked at the cell phone and counted on her hand before moving towards him.

Optimus wondered what she was planning on doing as usually by now he would be getting hosed down and washed, but by how she looked, today's plans were now thrown out.

She unlocked the driver's side door and climbed in. She gripped the wheel tightly before she glared at the house. "I wish that I had Lennox's number. He probably would like to go see an afternoon movie with me?"

Just as she was about to pick up her phone to call a friend, a military jeep pulled up to the gate. "Speak of the man and he appears. He must have gotten away from the base to visit me again."  
She climbed out of the cab and headed towards the gate to see Lennox standing there. "About time you showed up,"  
Lennox was taken back by the angry tone in her voice. He held his hands up in I give up. "Hey, I didn't know I was late. What's wrong?"  
"Everything!" Teri snapped off before giving a smile to him. "But I'm glad that you're here. Wanna see a movie?"

Lennoxsmiled after he glanced at his watch. "I would love to but it's like8amin the morning."

Teri looked at him. "I know that,"  
Lennox watched as she walked away from him. He grabbed her arm with his hand and the next thing he knew, she had thrown a punch at him to which he blocked. That got a glint in his eye, as he smiled at her. "You know how to fight?"  
Teri shrugged, "My younger brother and I did hand to hand combat but we mainly trained ourselves how to fight."  
Lennox started to smile. "Want to see how you go against a military trained soldier?"  
Teri returned his smile and walked to where they had room to fight in. "Bring it on, Lennox,"

Lennox started off with the minor punches before he noticed that she was blocking them or dodging them and giving him punches that he was barely able to block without some trouble. Soon, they were fighting; they were trading punches and blocks. Teri smiled as she started to throw kicks and feet sweeps at Lennox. He knew she was trained but he started to input some of his military training into his attacks on her and he noticed that she was stumped on some of them but still managed to block most of the attacks.

* * *

Optimus watched from his location as Lennox and Teri started to do hand to hand combat. Even though he had watched the members of NEST train with each other, it looked like a dance as they traded punches, dodged punches and kicks at the same time as they traded kicks. Lennox had several times kicked Teri's feet from under her only to have her flip backwards and land on her feet before she went after him again.

It was a long time before they stopped fighting as they laid there in the pasture gazing towards the sky. From what Optimus could detect their heartbeats and breathing levels were high as they started to cool down from what they did while fighting.  
Optimus turned his internal communications on in hopes that he could hear one of the others try to communicate with everyone else, but there was only silence that rang over the channel. He sadly turned it off and put it on the channels for the other truckers that would drive past. He would listen to the communications that the truckers would say over the radio. It passed the time for him since he was now stuck in truck mode for life.

* * *

Teri glanced over at Lennoxas they sat on the grass, he looked exhausted with the hour long fight that they did. "We only fought for an hour, not even enough time for the movie theatre to open up for the afternoon matinees,"  
"How far is it . . . drive wise?" Lennox asked.  
"About 20 miles from here, but if we wanted to go to Osage Beach, where there's other restaurants located at and other stores are at, that's at least 35 miles from here," Teri replied.

"That would take us about . . .,"  
"Fifty minutes to get there." Teri stated. "We could go there and have lunch before we go check out what movies are playing?"  
Lennox smiled. "That would be good." He laid down on the grass as he turned his head to look at her, his arms was behind his head. His nose wrinkled at the smell he was putting off as he placed his arms back down to his side. "Maybe a shower would be good first."  
Teri chuckled. "Yeah, we both need it. We stink," as she got up and held her hand out to him to help him up.

Lennox took the offered hand and yanked her down flipping himself over to where he was over her, with a smirk on his face started to lean down.  
"Teri!" cried a voice coming from the house.  
Teri used the chance to slip from under Lennox and looked over at the house. "Yes dad?"  
"Is everything okay?" Charles asked.  
"Yes, dad, we'll be coming in shortly to take showers," Teri said, as her father waved as he headed back in. "I guess I better get the towels and the spare shampoo and conditioner for you."

"I didn't expect to be fighting anyone at this hour and going out to a movie later with a pretty young lady," Lennox replied.

"Pretty, who, me? Nah, the heat must have gotten to your head, Lennox, I'm not pretty at all," Teri said, as she looked at him as she started to head for the house.

Lennox watched as Teri walked ahead of him, shaking his head as he followed her.

* * *

Optimus watched from his spot as Teri and Lennox headed into the house, he wondered why Lennox shook his head as he followed her within. '_Could he be trying to court his owner_?' Optimus wondered, as he watched as Lennox disappeared within the house.  
He knew he would be able to ask him later when he came to visit him tonight, but for now he would remain silent.

* * *

Teri grabbed three towels and a small bag as she led Lennox upstairs. "The bathroom is here." She opened a door revealing a guest bedroom and she headed past the bed towards another room. "You can use this shower, my shower is in with my parent's bathroom."  
"So you don't use this one?" Lennox asked.  
"Nope, it is used for guests only. My room is at the end of the hallway, I always use my folks' shower since my mom and I use the same hair stuff." Teri said. As she headed off to her bedroom.  
About forty minutes later, both were sitting in the kitchen having a cup of coffee with Teri's dad, discussing their day's plans. Charles looked at Teri and then to Lennox. "So you two are planning on going to see a movie later on?"  
"Yes sir," Lennox replied. "Maybe lunch or dinner before or afterwards,"  
"Why don't you make it a double header?" Charles suggested. "It would be good for you both,"  
"Dad!" Teri cried out.  
"I'm serious here, a double header will make the day go longer,"  
"Or more like the date, dad?" Teri replied, eyeing her father. All he could do was smile. "Well, what do you think, Lennox?"  
Lennox looked at her and then to her father. "Sure, a double header sounds like fun. We'll figure out which two movies we'll see when we get there, okay?"  
Teri nodded as she picked up her coffee mug and rinsed it out. "We should get going, if we get there too early for the movie, we can always go look at some music at the music store,"

"That sounds like a good idea, considering I haven't got any new CDs in a while," Lennox replied, as they started to head for the garage door.

They headed for Lennox's jeep and drove towards Osage Beach. When they got to the Outlet Mall and parked. Teri checked the time for Captain America and another movie, needless to state, they were not going to be playing for another hour. So, they headed to the music store and started to browse the CD racks for their favorite music.

Teri had got her favorite music ranging from Def Leppard, Bon Jovi to movie soundtracks of some of the movies that she liked. She went to Lennox and saw him with a varied range of music from Elvis to The Beatles and then some of the newer music. "Lady Gaga?"  
Lennox glanced at her. "Yeah, some of her songs are really good. You got yours ready to go?" He glanced at his watch. "We need to buy these and get them in the jeep and head for the theatre, we're about to miss the movie's start."  
Teri nodded as they went to the checkout and bought their CDs and headed to the jeep and hid them under their seats, before they hurried over to the theatre and got two tickets for couple movies, walked in and got a tub of popcorn, seasoned it with some white cheddar seasonings before heading into the theatre and found their seats.

_Stay tuned, the next chapter is coming._


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's note:** _In this chapter, hopefully Lennox will see what looks like Dreads but it was dusk when he sees them and the chances that they are them is high but he will probably visit Optimus later to let him be aware of the possibility that the Dreads are in the area and to keep an optic out for them. But who knows what this chapter will bring._

**Chapter Six.**

Teri and Lennox came out of the theatre five hours later, giggling about the last movie that they saw. They strode towards the stairs leading to another level and walked towards Coldstone Creamery, an ice cream parlor to get some ice cream. Lennox and Teri stood there looking at the endless list of items that they could put into their ice cream. Teri smiled as she looked at Lennox. "Have you figured out what you are going to get?"  
"I think so," Lennox replied, as he looked at her and then to the ice cream expert behind the bar.  
"Can I help you?" The girl asked.  
"Yes, I'll have the coffee ice cream with the additions of Oreo cookie crumbs, banana slices and hot fudge please. Two scoops please and in a bowl, please." Teri stated. She glanced over at Lennox. "It's my favorite combo. It is sinfully delicious, usually I have it with vanilla ice cream but coffee ice cream adds another twist to it."  
"Sounds yummy," Lennox replied, as he watched the expert mix and mash the ingredients together before she placed it in a bowl and placed it on the counter before turning to him. "I'll have the same but with vanilla ice cream, please?"  
"Coming right up, sir," She started to get the ingredients together and started to mix and mash them together, before she placed it in the bowl and carried them over to the cashier. She noticed that the man that walked to the counter had an army uniform on. "Do you know we have a special price for military men and women?"  
Lennox raised an eyebrow. "You do?"  
"Yes, fifty percent off the full price of your ice cream with proof of your military service," She replied.  
Lennox pulled out his military card and noticed that the girl was looking for Teri's card. "She's not military, civilian. I'm out on a date,"

The girl nodded and took a look at Lennox's card before typing a code into the computer and spoke, "The price of both ice cream is nine dollars and eleven cents please?"  
Lennox cringed at the number - he added another penny to the money he passed to the cashier. "I never did like that amount,"

The cashier nodded as she pushed the two bowls of ice cream to them. "Same here, hope you enjoy your ice cream."

"Thank you, we most certainly will," Teri stated, as she picked up her bowl and led Lennox to the booth and sat down intending on enjoying her ice cream.

Half an hour later, they walked out of the ice cream parlor and walked back to the jeep where they climbed in and drove back to the house. It was there when Teri started to growl softly under her breath.  
Lennox noticed where she was looking at and saw a woman standing on the walkway dressed in white. "Who is that?"  
"My mother," Teri replied.  
"What's wrong?"  
"She is the one who wants me to sell him and get a nice safe car," Teri glanced back at her mom to see her standing there tapping her foot. She turned to look at Lennox. "There is still daylight out, lets go for a walk in the park?"

"Sure," Lennox replied, starting the jeep up and backing out of the drive again and driving off.

When they got to the top of the road, Teri told him to go left till they got to the fork in the road. Teri told him to turn right and continue till they got to the main road. Then, she told him to turn right onto the main road. They drove past a sharp curve.  
Teri directed him to turn at Turkey Pen and they could walk the trail there since it was not regulated like the main park was.  
"Like the main park is, what do you mean by that?" Lennox asked, as he parked his jeep.  
"Well, Ha Ha Tonka state park is regulated by sunrise and sunset. The main park like the castle and the water tower is regulated by that time but this and the overlook isn't as its not blocked off by the gate." Teri stated, as she climbed out of the jeep. "I'll show you the gates later, lets walk."

"Let me grab some flashlights we might be getting back after the sun sets for the day," He said as he grabbed his backpack and stuffed it with couple of flashlights and placed it on his back. They headed down the path just listing to nature and their footsteps as they went down the path, enjoying each others company and the walk that they did.

It was couple hours later, they headed back to the jeeps.  
"Lennox, I want to show you something." Teri stated.  
Lennox glanced back and noticed she was pointing up towards the road. "What's wrong there?"  
"That road is the same road we drove on, but part of the curve does not have a guard rail on it. If you were going fast enough and you didn't know the road very well, you would have an accident there and tumble down the ravine." Teri replied.

"Have you driven him on that road yet, Teri?"  
"No and I don't intend on doing so, unless I have no other choice,"

They headed towards the jeep, when Lennox noticed that there was couple of black SUVs parked off to the further side of the small parking lot. He wondered if the hikers had gone down a different path, he mentally shrugged as he climbed into the jeep but something in his mind told him to look at them both carefully.  
Teri noticed that he was looking at couple SUVs as they slowly drove past and then got onto the road and drove away. "Did you know them?"  
Lennox shook his head. "No, not really, thought the vehicles looked familiar."

"Oh," Teri glanced in the rear view mirror and noticed that the vehicles were not moving. "They might have gone to the cave instead of going on the same trail as us. That does happen a lot, people realize that the spot they parked in is not where the cave is at and they walk down the road to where the cave is,"

"That cave sounds fun. Maybe we'll go see it next time around?" Lennox replied, with a smile on his face.  
"I would love to show you the entire park, as it was once considered by my own dad to buy this place and turn it into property for people to build their homes on."  
"Really?" asked Lennox.  
"Yeah, but he toured it with his business partners and they said not worth the effort of buying and making into properties for sale," Teri stated. "But the owner sold it to the State for . . . I think two million dollars,"

Lennox whistled as he turned down Post Office road and drove back to Teri's home in silence. As he drove past the pond, he noticed that the woman in white was not standing there. "Looks like your mom isn't outside waiting for you to come in, Teri."

"This time, that is. I know she'll be inside waiting for me to come in, so she can berate me some more about my job status and stuff like that," Teri unbuckled her seat belt after the jeep pulled to a stop. She reached under the seat and grabbed her package of CDs that she bought. "Thanks for a great day, Lennox. I had a really good time."  
"Same here," Lennox replied with a smile on his face. "I'd like to do it again next week if at all possible."  
"I would love to. See you next week," Teri smiled and watched as he drove away before heading into the house to contend with any possible fight with her mother.

* * *

Lennox drove just past the pine trees and parked the jeep on the road to the garden, just out of sight of everyone. He went racing to the pasture and to Optimus who opened his driver's door to him. About five minutes later, Lennox went racing back to his jeep and drove back to base, knowing that he had to convince the government that what they made the Autobot do was shameful as the Decepticons were still out there and one day soon, they'll be needing the Autobots' help and they have placed them around the states with orders to remain in vehicle form. The lone one who refused was Ratchet and he was stuck at the base where Lennox worked at.

_Stay tuned, the next chapter is coming._


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note**:_ I'm going to speed things up a bit like say about three months, so we can get into a very dangerous scenario at the end of this chapter, which will bring about another dangerous scenario in the next chapter._

**Chapter Seven.**

It was three months after their first date, they would go to the movies or go to the Lake, rent a boat and just cruise the lake for a few hours or work on their hand to hand combat skills. Most of the time, they would venture into town to eat but this day, Teri invited him into the house for a meal. Teri was walking into the comfortable kitchen space, she glanced behind her. "Do you like tomato sandwiches, Lennox?"  
"I love them," Lennox replied with a grin. "It is one of my favorite sandwiches beyond a good hamburger."

"Same here, but I've gotten onto a fad eating tomato sandwiches," Teri replied, as she grabbed the tomatoes and started to slice them, before she sprinkled kosher salt on to them before she went to the fridge to get the mayo out. She started to spread the mayo onto the four slices of bread and placed the tomato slices onto the bread before she sliced it in half and plated the sandwich. She grabbed two glasses from the cabinet and filled them both with water from the sink. She did her own before she picked up the plate and headed for the table and sat down.

They ate the sandwich as they discussed what the day's plan was going to be which was basically more hand to hand combat since Teri noticed that she was getting really good at handling herself against a trained fighter.

Teri smiled. "So we should rest for another five minutes before returning to the field and continue the practice?"

"Yes," Lennox stated, as he picked up his glass of water and took a sip of it.

"I don't think so," spoke a female voice coming from behind Lennox.  
They turned to see a blond haired woman wearing white clothes standing there. "Mother,"

"Teri, you need to go to the grocery store and get this weeks' supply of food . . . today," She turned to walk into the living room. "Before night falls, Teri,"

Teri growled, as she got up from her seat and went to the list that was on the kitchen counter and scanned it. "This will take at least four hundred dollars out of my own pocket to get."

Lennox looked at her. "Do we have time to hit your bank to get the funds or will she give you the funds to buy it?"

"They never give me the money to buy the groceries, William," Teri stated, as she looked at him as she folded the list up and placed it in her purse. "They expect me to pay for it since I live here and I should put my fair share into the house."

William glanced at the clock to see it was only 10am in the morning. "We have time to hit your bank before it closes to get some funds,"

Teri glanced at the clock, nodding. "Yeah, I need to head to the bank to get some funds to cover this grocery tab as it will be a bit more since I'll be buying some food for myself."

"Then, we better be off?" William asked, with a grin.

Teri nodded as she grabbed her purse and checked it to see if she had her check book, which she didn't have. "I have to head up to my computer room to grab my check book. I have some deposits to make."

William watched as she dashed up the stairs. He knew she would be right back as he looked at the list to find that they were going to be getting a lot of food. It was not too long before he heard footsteps running down the stairs and walking over to his side.

"Got my checkbook, let me grab the list and we can head out," Teri stated as she took the list from his hand and folded it up and placed it within her purse. She held her keys to Optimus up and smiled. "We'll take Optimus this time around."

William smiled in return. "Not a problem with me, but will we be able to have the groceries fit in the back?"  
"Yeah, I place it in the sleeper when I go out to get the groceries. It fits every time," Teri stated, as they walked out of the house and towards where she had parked Optimus. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, it looks like it will be a lot of food,"

"No more than twenty bags worth and it always fit in his sleeper before," Teri said as they neared Optimus.  
Lennox went silent as they got into the cab and drove into town to get some funds from Teri's bank. William noticed that Teri looked a bit stunned as she walked from the bank and climbed in. "What's wrong?"  
Teri glanced at him. "They said that they had to freeze my checking account because of a large deposit made this past Monday."

"Really? How much was put into your account?" William asked.  
"Over two hundred thousand dollars and it's from the military as that's what the wire statement said," Teri replied. "Why would they give me that much money unless it was for something?"  
"Maybe they want to make sure that Optimus was well taken care of and to help his new owner out?" William suggested.

"I don't know, the military isn't known to do something like that, William," Teri replied, as she looked at her checkbook.

"Do you have enough in your account to write a check?"

"Yeah, I usually pay cash for it as my dad would pay me back in a check," Teri stated.

"But I thought your folks made you buy it and not pay you back for it?"  
"Yeah, but dad does it behind mom's back as he knows how hard I save my money for my vehicle," Teri replied, as she put her purse by William's leg and pulled out of the parking spot and drove to the exit and drove towards Wal Mart.

Thirty minutes later and twenty bags of groceries later, Teri wasn't kidding about getting all that in the sleeper bed. William was sure that it wouldn't fit but Teri made it all fit. He just shook his head.  
"What's wrong, William?"  
"I never thought that many bags could fit back there," William said as Teri smiled at him as she sat in the driver's seat. "It really is amazing. So what do we do next?"  
"We head home and unpack the groceries and after that we can return to do hand to hand combat till you have to head back to base," Teri replied.

"I would like that," William said with a grin.

Teri drove back home and after they placed the groceries away and the ones that she bought for herself in her own small college dorm sized fridge before heading back out to the pasture and started to practice their skills till late afternoon when William had to head back to his base with a promise to return the following week.

* * *

The following Monday, Teri hauled more rock to the Eldon area. After she dropped off the last load of the day, she headed towards the local truck stop for dinner. She noticed that a few truckers were looking in her general direction. She ignored it as most men looked in her direction as it is not usual to see a female trucker as they were really rare. Plus the word had gotten out from the police posters about a serial Semi rapist, a man who was raping female Semi drivers. She read the poster and was even advised to take on a male co-driver in her Semi till they caught the bastard but she told the waitress and the Semi driver who had suggested she get another driver with her till they caught him she wouldn't as the guy wouldn't come up to a place like this. She knew everyone there and there wasn't any new faces around the area. She finished her dinner, she wondered why the waitress who usually would have placed her bill on her table didn't and went to the cashier to pay her bill but found out that it was already paid for by another. She wondered if William was there and paid for her meal before he left, she decided to ask the waitress. "Who paid for my dinner?"

"One of the truckers did. He said he'll be by your truck to get thanks from you," She replied before she took another driver to his seat.

Teri smiled. "Thank you," and she headed out to the parking lot where the Semi's were parked to see a black haired man with a plaid long sleeve shirt and blue jeans leaning against Optimus. He smiled as she approached him.  
"Are you the one who paid for my meal?" Teri asked as she went closer to her Semi.

"Yup," He replied.  
"Thank you for that, I appreciate the gesture but you shouldn't have,"

"Well, I paid for your meal and now I want payment back for it," He stated, as he stepped towards her. Teri stepped back against her Semi, her hand frantically searching for the handle to open the door to get away from him. "I plan on getting my payment from your body."

'_Oh god, he's the serial Semi rapist! I need to do something!_' Teri cried out mentally.

He grabbed her arms with his dirty stained hand as he started to rip at her pants to get them off of her.

All Teri could do was pray that someone would come out of restaurant or one of the Semis to come to her rescue. She started to struggle to be free from him, knowing the longer he struggled with her pants, the more possibility of a trucker coming from the restaurant and save her.

_TBC..._


End file.
